Book Review: Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn

“How would visitors know the real stories behind the faces of the wooden masks they’d buy to have on walls; the rag dolls they’d use to decorate unused furniture in their houses; the figurines they’d place on mantels that they can marvel at and then quickly forget?”

Release Date: July 5th, 2016

Genre(s): Adult Fiction, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, LGBT

Publisher: Liveright

Pages: 352

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis

Here Comes the Sun is a story set in Jamaica following Margot, who is sending her younger sister to school in order for her to avoid the same fate that Margot had. When plans for a new hotel threaten their village, Margot sees it as not only an opportunity for financial independence, but also to admit her love for another woman. With the struggles that women in their community continue to face, each of them must face their own past in order pave their own paths to freedom.

Review

I didn’t know what to fully expect when starting Here Comes the Sun. I knew that a big part of it would be about the contrast of lifestyle between the tourism industry in Jamaica and the reality of life for residents like Margot and her family. But this book has so many other themes tying into it, and the characters are ones that will absolutely stay with me for a long time.

Everything about the writing and research behind the story and characters in Here Comes the Sun is so well done. Each characters’ backstory is explored in such detail, especially in terms of how both the tourism industry and their own communities and families have shaped them. You also learn their desires and values, and what happens when they must make a decision that interferes with those things. These moments are ones that initially shocked me, but considering the lives that the characters face, you come to understand their rationale for everything they do.

Additionally, there are so many elements of this book that are cyclical in nature. From the many generations of poverty, dreams shattered, and desperation to flee the cycle itself, Here Comes the Sun is incredibly hard-hitting. But this theme, in particular, is what caught my attention the most, and of all of the talking points this book brings to the table, I found this to be the most prominent one.

I struggle to share my feelings on this book without sharing too much because the gradual reveal of these characters’ backstories contributes so much to the buildup of the story as a whole. But I do wish that I could talk about this book more with others because it’s truly one that I could go on about for hours with those who have read it. From our impacts on the tourism industry to those that allow the exploitation of others within it, there is so much to discuss from just the industry side. Then you have the story from the side of the many generations that live within it, and how that cycle fails to end for them. While Here Comes the Sun started a bit slow for me, I was absorbed by the story by the end. And while it is such a hard-hitting and difficult novel, I’d recommend it to everybody.

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